AWE Media Sierra Leone

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson FC Johansen’s Head Coach Ibrahim Sillah otherwise refereed to as “the prodigal coach” will later today at the Wusum Stadium in Makeni lead “the dream chasers” against his former side East End Lions. As both teams enters into today’s Sierra Leone Premier League match day 29 clash, stakes are high for both coaches who will be looking forward to securing the vital three points from the much talked about match. FC Johansen’s Head Coach Ibrahim Sillah is no stranger to the opposing teams, he had guided both teams in two capacities first as Assistant coach to John Keister at both FC Johansen and East End Lions and eventually became the substantive Head coach at both FC Johansen and East End Lions following the departure of the former. Earlier this season, Coach Sillah was the Head Coach of East End Lions but parted ways with the 2019 League Champions and returned to his former club as prodigal coach where he had recently signed a new contract at Head coach of FC Joha...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson East End Lions defense has been boosted once again following the arrival of its promising left back Abdul Razack Conteh. Conteh rejoined his East End Lions teammates for training on April 19 in Freetown and resumed top-tier action for the 2019 League Champions last Friday, after being overseas for nearly six months.  East End Lions FC’s Head coach Mohamed Lamin Kamara introduced the gigantic and promising left back together with his teammate Abu Dumbuya in the 88th minute during their match day 29 1-0 victory against Anti Drugs FC at the Wusum Stadium in Makeni. Prior to the end of the Sierra Leone Premier League first round last year, Conteh left the shores of Freetown for a proposed trial with Portuguese side FC Porto resulting to him missing out a spot from the senior national men’s team (Leone Stars) 2021-AFCON Squad.  The skillful defender who last skipped the national men’s U-20 at a WAFU-A tournament was reported to have been stranded in Gambia where h...

By: alusinerehme.wilson@awokonewspaper.sl Since joining “the killers” last February, Alie Conteh has been busy showing his goal scoring prowess for the Freetown based outfit in this season’s elite men’s championship. Conteh who’s on his debut Sierra Leone Premier League stint have been featured in 10 times for the 2019 SLPL Champions and has made history as the first player to score at hits first eight games. His impressive goals scoring skills earned him a debut call up to Leone Stars, the senior men’s national team of Sierra Leone and was part of Head coach John Edward Kiester’s 23-man squad to Turkey last February for the Antalya cup. He was eventually featured in  Sierra Leone’s last two friendly matches against Liberia and Congo Brazzaville.  Conteh has so far scored a total of 10 goals in all appearances for East End Lions Football Club including a brace against 2012 champions Diamond Stars football club. He has been also involved in hist teams last 15 goals in this season ongoin...

By: alusinerehme.wilson@awokonewspaper.sl Country Representative of German Doctors in Sierra Leone, Fanta Daboh has reassured the organization’s continued support to Commit and Act Foundation Sierra Leone. Madam Daboh says “German Doctors are so far impressed with the implementation work Commit and Act Foundation Sierra Leone is doing in Bo, Bombali and Tonkolili District in-terms of combating rampant FGM practices and other Sexual and Gender Based Violence against teenage school going griots and women through the “My Body, My Rights Project”. Continued saying: “The testimonies she’ve heard from beneficiaries of the “My Body, My Rights Project” are very positive to their work as donor. “I want to categorically state that German Doctors as the Project donor we moved and therefore assure of another funding for the next 18 months for a project targeting to provide Sowies with livelihood support as well as proving Financial packages to local leaders involved in the practices of Female Geni...

By: alusinerehme.wilson@awokonewspaper.sl A total of 30 Journalists from various districts in the North-West and Northern Regions have received capacity building training on Transitional Justice from the Media Reform Coordinating Group-Sierra Leone-(MRCG-SL). The day’s training which took place at the Where Else hall in Makeni city on Monday, 25th April, 2022 was facilitated by two UNIMAK Lectures namely Shebora Samba Kamara and Matthew Kanu, enlightened the Journalists working for several radio, television and newspaper institutions in the two northern regions on a number of topics including the meaning of Transitional Justice, Transitional Justice Mechanisms as well as Media and Transitional Justice. The Journalists were further trained on how to report on Transitional Justice issues in their respective regions and the nation by extension before they went on and identified Transitional Justice Issues evident in the North-West and Northern Regions, presented their work and proffered a...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists Electoral Commission–(SLAJEC) has on Monday, 25th April, 2022 extended the nominations deadline to close of business today. SLAJEC says they have resolved to extend the nominations deadline following several requests from members wanting to fill vacant positions in the national and northern regional executives. However, the nation’s elite Journalists Association further reminds the SLAJ membership that: “extending nominations beyond the above-mentioned date will ultimately disrupt the electoral timeline and, by extension, impinge on the outcome of the elections. And that “concession will be limited to accepting nominations for the available vacant positions of Assistant Secretary General (National), Assistant Secretary and Financial Secretary (Northern Region)." The latest SLAJEC correspondence follows its Monday morning announcement of nominees for the forthcoming National and Regional Elections scheduled for Sa...

Date: 21-22 April 2022 Venue: Freetown International Conference Center (Bintumani), Aberdeen, Freetown, Sierra Leone Time: 9:30am   Opening Courtesies...   Today we are making another history as the first-ever National Media Viability and Investment Conference kicks off, marking the first conscious and determined step taken by media stakeholders with support from the Government of SL and the BBC Media Action’s PRIMED Project to begin to address the economic and other systemic challenges facing the media in Sierra Leone.   There is no better time this media investment summit could have come other than now, almost two years after the historic repeal of the criminal and seditious libel law. And one of the strongest arguments we put forward for the repeal was that that law was preventing private sector investment into the media in the country because no sensible investor would want to invest in a sector that could easily escort them to police cells or the Pademba Road Prisons (now the SLCS...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson  On Thursday, 21st April, 2022 the first ever Girls Conference begins at the Magburaka Boys School hall, in Tonkolili District, Northern Sierra Leone.   The two days long (21st-22nd April, 2022) maiden Girls Conference is organized by Commit and Act Foundation-(CAF), a non-government organization championing campaigns against Female Genital Mutilation for the protection of girls in the Bo, Bombali and Tonkolili District with funds from German Doctors.   In a powerpoint presentation delivered at the conference by Hannah Bockarie the founder and Country Director of Commit and Act Sierra Leone, she briefly reminisced on her journey with the foundation which she disclosed she has single handedly started in Bo in 2013 with the desire to proving assorted assistance to women and girls in Sierra Leone which she says she is very happy about now counting on the progress and lives its has impacted positively.   “Today we've  gathered to dialogue together with our girl...

By: alusinerehme.wilson@awokonewspaper.sl Several Subscribers of Orange Sierra Leone’s Mobile Money Services “Orange Money” who won assorted food items as prices from the  leading telecommunication services provider Ramadan Promotion remains all cheering in the Northern region economic city. The Orange mobile money subscribers had won several food items as prizes from a raffle conducted by Orange Money staff at the entrance to the main market of Makeni city opposite the clock tower located along the central business district of the municipality. Food items won from the raffle by the pool of orange money subscribers from the Saturday Ramadan promotion includes boxes of tin tomato, Orange branded orange money backpacks, caps and t-shirts as well as tins of milk, 5kg sugar, and 5kg packs of rice among other condiments. Speaking on the purpose for the promotion, Abibatu Baxter, Head of Marketing Strategy and Partnerships for Orange Money Sierra Leone told Awoko Newspaper that: “the day...

By: alusinerehme.wilson@awokonewspaper.sl  Masongbo Community Health Center-(CHC), mosques and churches in the community have all been lit-up courtesy of one of its indigenes Foday “604” Tarawilie. Of the eight-(8) solar lights that were single handedly donated to each of the three mosques, two churches, the Community Health Center and two installed at the two entrances of Masongbo community have all brought succor to the community. The lights have now become the center of attraction in the community and parents interviewed have thanked the donor for the lights which they say are now used at night by their children to study, especially those in the primary and junior secondary schools NPSE and BECE examination classes. For health workers at the Masongbo Community Health Center, they say the solar light installed at the center is beginning to save them from much fear during the night’s hours and has so far boosted their confidence to attend to more patients in the night hours. As it...

By: alusinerehme.wilson@awokonewspaper.sl  The Senior District Officer-(SDO) of Bombali District Abubakarr Kamara has issued a two weeks ultimatum to the Bike riders, Motor drivers and Traders Unions as well as Fuel Station Owners to harmonize their prices. Kamara issued the stern warning during a DiSec meeting between the Bike riders, Motor drivers and Traders Unions as well as Fuel Station Owners that was hosted at the Wusum Stadium in Makeni where the urged the said stakeholders to prepare and present lists of prices for passengers as well as assorted commodities as a way to ensure stability in transportation costs as well as the prices of commodities in the city and its environs. He disclosed that: “his office is working hand in gloves with member of the District Security Committee of Bombali-(DiSec) with other key stakeholders to set up “the Makeni Model” a scheme that will make way for uniform prices in commodity costs as well as transport fares in the northern region city an...

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By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Yesterday at the Magbenteh Black Field, Justice Football defeated Tigo Stars Football 1-0 in match day-1 of the maiden edition of Honorable Alimamy Kamara Trophy. Winger David Marah scored the all important goal for his side 10 minutes in the first half of the encounter to earn his team a comfortable win in the opening ceremony of the tournament, no surprise he was voted man of the match. The tournament which is organized for twelve men’s teams from several communities in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone will be played daily at the Magbenteh Black Field for the next twenty-eight days. The twelve participating teams are: Tigo Stars, Santino, Justice, Channel one, Bombay Stars, Young Stars, Magebnteh Veterans, All Stars, Sowa, New York, Future Boys and Sico Football Club which have been already grouped from A-C in that order. According to Mohamed Titi Kamara, the chief organizers: “two teams each from the three groups including two overall best losers will progress ...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson During its first eviction ceremony hosted at the Makeni city council hall on Friday night, exciting revelations from all twelve contestants iced the contest. With the contestants competing for the Le 50,000,000 star prize for the winner of ongoing Salone Culture Alive TV Reality Show in the northern city of Makeni the dark was lighted up as they presented historical facts about the migration and way of life of the Creole, Mende, Temne, Madingo, Limba, Kono and Kuranko ethnic groups. The power packed learning zone event which is primarily organized by Summit Empire with support from the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and other partners to trace as well as showcase the tradition and cultural way of life of the People of Sierra Leone, on the day was the first of seven evictions already lined up for the twelve finalists chasing the multimillion Leones star prize. Timed to spend four minutes each to make their individual presentation of their weeks long re...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Former vice Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission, Ketanji Brown Jackson has made history after receiving backing from Senates who unanimously voted her to the nine-member bench becoming the first black woman to serve in the top court. The Miami Palmetto Senior High School and Harvard Law School graduate that was nominated by the President of the United States of America Joe Biden on February 25 this year was confirmed by Senates after securing a total of 53 votes as opposed to 43 to enhancing President Biden’s campaign promise to appoints a black woman to the top court. As it happened, she now leads as the first black female justice in the nation’s 233-year history having received a 100% vote from Democrats, plus extra three votes from three Republicans including to further confirm her appointment to her new job. Upon the retirement of Stephen Breyer, in June this year, Johnson will be taking over her fellow liberal judge for Women Justice whom she ...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson  A recent study conducted by this writer indicates that the majority of jelly coconut traders in Makeni are Female between the age brackets of 18-38 years.  Unlike the male jelly sellers who on a daily basis, hawk along the central business area of the municipality pushing wheelbarrows to sell coconuts, women carry on their head at least one hundred coconuts in either trays or large basins hawking along several areas in the Northern city. This reality inflicts much body pain on the female jelly coconut retailers who mostly have to sell for at least eight hours a day and buy cooking condiments to prepare meals for their families at the expense of their health which prompted me to take my microphone to some of them to let them tell their stories.  Their revelations about why and how they took up selling jelly coconut, the banes they undergo and its relevance are shocking. 38-year-old Kamathor Sesay who was born and raised at the Masongbo community in Bombali Dis...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson   With funds from multiple donors including the European Union, Irish Aid and the World Bank and the Government of Sierra Leone, the Free Education Project Secretariat, yesterday successfully organized a Training of Trainers clinic for Grievances Redress Mechanism committee members in the Northern East Region.  Hosted at the Sierra Leone Teachers Union hall in Makeni city, the day’s training brought together representatives from Bombali, Falaba, Koinadugu and Tonkolili Districts attached at several government and non-governmental organizations, as well as Ministries, Agencies and Departments such as District Councils, Ministry of Basic and Secondary School Education, Teaching Service Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, Family Support Units, Ministry Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs among others servings as members of the Grievance Redress Mechanism committees in their respective districts that all benefited from the clinic. One of the facili...

By: Alsuine Rehme Wilson Some residents in Makeni, mainly women, have told Awoko Newspaper that they’re unhappy with the extensive power outage in the city and its environs especially with the way and manner the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority in the area is regulating the supply of electricity. Most of them in conditions of animosity said they’ve and are still being subjected to suffer a lot of damages with their freezers, televisions, fans plus their other electrical devices as a result of the irregular-rotational supply of lights in the city. “Our livelihood for over ten years now depends on our freezers from where we freeze and sell cold water and assorted drinks on daily basis but since EDSA started giving us on an off supply without any public notification, most of our freezers and other electrical device have been damaged, some are beyond repairs which has increased the burden on us. “Our once bright city is no longer called the city of light and it’s now hard fo...

After the Sama Foundation donated it's first consignment of sport equipment nearly 15 years ago, little did the organization's Sierra Leonean founder imagined how much goodwill it would attract. Based in the state of Texas, Sama has wooed interest from Albion and Imperial Soccer Club, who have pledged to donate more football equipment soon. The Albion and Imperial Soccer Clubs are partners of the Sama Foundation and they intends supporting the foundation with football kits.  The Founder of both clubs Ive Cheema said she is confidence of supporting the clubs with football equipment as usual. Albion and Imperial clubs are managed by the Cheema family and they proposed to continue to supports the Foundation In an online interview, Ive Cheema said “Analisse (my daughter) has taken the lead on this project to help kids like herself. My son has also helped but he’s younger. I’m just a supportive parent. She plans to continue to collect items throughout the year. Reaching out to her f...

By: Alsuine Rehme Wilson   April 1st every year in Sierra Leone is recognized as “April Fool’s Day” and many people across districts in the West African country do make attempts to cajoling others to fall in their prank traps.  But this year’s April’s 1st saw two of Sierra Leone’s most trending comedians Kindo Armani and Yematta one minutes, fifty seven seconds-(1:57) long skirt stole the show as things turned out to be unfortunate for Comedian Kindo Armani whose attempt to use the day to prank comedian Yematta after he was being trapped backfired.  In the video, Kindo Armani who was being slapped thrice by Yematta haven loose his guards in an attempt to see his girlfriend named Fatu, Yematta’s treasured daughter and ventured to Connelly bale himself out pretending he was at Yematta’s compound to cajole and also prank him being the day was April 1st (Fools Day) as he has been doing over the years on the said date. The video by the experienced duo remains trending on the internet as now...